Apparatus and method for feeding sheets to printing presses



Jah- 11, 1955 2,699,333

NG SHEETS TO PRINTING PRESSES L. w. CLAYBOURN ETAL APPARATUS AND METHODEOE FEEDI 'S'Sheeis-Sheet :1

Filed March 27. 1952 Jan. 11, 1955 1.. w. CLAYBOURN ETAL 2,699,333APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FEEDING SHEETS TO Filed March 27, 1952 PRINTINGPBESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 E ewiflak 502m"); Q7/3527 jiazqrr; ,B/ /@%//W%2,699,333 RESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 L. w. cLAYBouRN ETAL APPARATUS ANDMETHOD FOR FEEDING SHEETS TO PRINTING P Jan. 11, 1955 Filed March 27.1952 floews:

L. w. CLAYBOURN ET AL 236995-33 NG SHEETS T0 PRINTING PRESSES Jan. 11,1955 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FEEDI Filed March 27. 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet4 Jan. 11, 1955 L. w. CLAYBOURN ETAL 2,699,333

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FEEDI NG SHEETS TO PRINTING PRESSES Filed March27. 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent Ofilice 2,699,333Patented Jan. 11, 1955 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FEEDING SHEETS TOPRINTING PRESSES Leslie W. Claybourn and Carlton C. Claybourn, Chicago,Ill., assignors to L. W. Claybourn, Inc., a corporation of IllinoisApplication March 27, 1952, Serial No. 278,921 17 Claims. (Cl. 271--51)This invention relates to feeding sheets to a printing press and moreparticularly to an apparatus and a method for feeding sheets to a rotarypress to increase production of the press.

b Experience has taught that rotary printing presses can e inventionwill be described with reference to a preferred embodiment illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic side elevational view of a rotary press showingthe relative location of the printing cylinders. sheet feeders andapparatus of this invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sideelevational view of the sheet transferring means of this invention inposition to pick up a sheet from the sheet feeder; Fig. 3 is a view likeFig. 2 showing the transfer device in position to release a sheet to thefeed-in cylinder; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view takensubstantially along line 4-4 in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a fragmentarysectional View taken substantially along line 5-5 in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is afragmentary top plan view of the transfer device as seen in Fig. 3; Fig.7 is a fragmentary sectional View taken substantially along mentarysectional view through the sheet gripping device taken substantiallyalong line 8--8 in Fig. 4.

The rotary press as diagrammatically shown in Fig. 1 includes animpression cylinder 10 against which plate cylinders 11 and 12 arepressed to print the sheets. Two plate cylinders are shown since theillustrated press may print two colors and the color rolls (not shown)will be in contact with the plate cylinders olf the right-hand side ofthe figure. Near the top of the figure, a chain 13 provided withgrippers passes around rolls 14 and 15 for taking printed sheets off theimpression cylinder. These sheets are passed to a delivery chain 18 andcarried out of the press.

The sheets to be printed are advanced toward the press on sheet feeders19 and 2,9 which are sloped downwardly toward transfer devices 2.1 and22. In the case of the upper sheet feeder 19, sheets are taken from thefeeder by the transfer device 21 and delivered to the feed-in cylinder23 from which they are transferred to the impression cylinder. In thecase of the lower sheet feeder 29. the sheets are delivered by transferdevice 22 to feed-in cylinder 24 and then to the impression cylinder.

The feed-in cylinders and impression cylinder are provided with grippersfor grasping the sheets and holding them in aligned position through thepress. the impression cylinder is cast iron while the feed-in cylindersmay be steel or aluminum.

11 normal operation of traveling in press at a given rate which raterate of the press. The incoming sheets were stopped for purposes ofalignment and then fed into the printing cylinders of the press.

usually picked up and supporting the plates 30.

n arm 31 is mounted between the ner that wi the races for the bearings.

At the outer end of the arms 31 are mounted the sheet gripping means andthe means for following the circular track 26. A boss 35 carries anumber of rollers 36 which run in the confines of the track 26 uponrotation of the arm 31. The driving force is supplied in the will varyin distance between the outer end and th ready will be travels radiallyrelative to 33 as rollers 36 follow the to release a sheet wellunderstood the arm 31 the shaft on the ball bearings track.

The sheet gripping devices are operated by a pair of cam surfaces 40 and41 which are secured to the face of the plate 25. The grippers 42themselves are mounted on a cross member 43 carried on the outer end ofa pair of arms 31, one arm being on each side of the press. Bell crankarms 44 are mounted adjacent the ends of arm 31 and carry a follower 45adapted to engage the cam surfaces 40 and 41 to operate the grippingmechanism to the present instance at the highest lineal velocity. Theinner end of bell crank 44 has a segment gear 46 in mesh with spur gear45 on shaft 48 which carries the inner ends of gripper fingers 42. Thegrippers are pivotally mounted at 49 on the cross member 43. Movement ofthe bell cranks thus operates the grippers to catch and release sheets.

An example of the operation of the present invention to double thecapacity of a printing press may be noted by referring to Fig. 1. If theimpression cylinder is run at a printing rate of 5,000 sheets per hourthe sheet feeders 19 and 2% may be operated at a feeding rate of only2,500 sheets per hour. Each sheet must be fed at a velocity to theimpression cylinder equal to the surface velocity of the cylinder. Thedisclosed transfer devices can double the velocity of the sheettransferring it to a feed-in cylinder and thus the velocity of eachsheet will be accelerated to the velocity of the impression cylinder. Inhandling certain types of paper it may be possible to increase thenumber of sheet feeders by the provision of additional devices or withother papers it may be possible to speed up both the sheet feeders andthe printing cylinders. It will be noted that the transfer device willhave an arm length from the axis of the shaft 27 to the sheet gripperequal to the radius of the impression cylinder upon the release of asheet S. This insures that the velocity of the sheet is the same as thesurface velocity of the impression cylinder since shaft 27 and theimpression cylinder are driven at the same speed. The sheet transferdevices are driven in timed relation to the printing cylinders so thatthe sheets are fed both alternately and intermittently to the printingcylinders.

While we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention,it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications.Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdisclosed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a sheet printing press having a plurality of feed mechanisms andan impression cylinder adapted to run at a velocity substantially inexcess of the velocity at which said sheets are fed by said feedmechanism, separate means for transferring sheets from each feedmechanism, each of said means being adapted to accelerate the sheetsduring transfer to the impression cylinder, each of said means includinga transfer cylinder adapted to perform one rotation during transfer ofone sheet to said impression cylinder, whereby the impression cylinderprints sheets at a rate substantially in excess of the velocity of whichsheets are fed by said feed mechanisms, and means for driving saidtransfer means in timed relation to the rotation of the impressioncylinder.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the press is provided withtwo feed mechanisms with a separate sheet transfer means between eachfeed mechanism and the impression cylinder, said transfer meansincluding accelerating means secured thereto, and means are provided fordriving each feed mechanism at a rate corresponding to substantially onehalf the printing rate of the impression cylinder.

3. Apparatus for transferring sheets from a source of sheets on a sheetfeeder to a printing press cylinder comprising means forming a circularpath, a rotary member mounted for travel at a constant angular velocityabout an axis eccentric to the circular path, said axis lying betweenthe center of the circular path and a position where a sheet is pickedup, means for picking up a sheet from said source at one position duringa revolution of a memher and the means for releasing the sheet atanother position during the same revolution of a member, said meansbeing adapted to transmit continuous acceleration to said sheet.

4. Apparatus for changing the rate of feed of sheets from a source to aprinting press comprising means forming a circular path, a rotary membermounted for travel at a constant angular velocity about an axiseccentric to the circular path, said axis lying between the center ofthe circular path and a position where a sheet is picked up, sheetgripping means on said rotatable member adjacent said path moveable at.a variable linear velocity, and means for picking up and releasing asheet at selected positions about said path.

5. Apparatus for transferring sheets from a source of sheets on a sheetfeeder to a printing press cylinder comprising, means forming a circularpath, an arm having means for following said path, said arm, beingrotatable about an axis eccentric to the path at a constant angularvelocity whereby the means'following said path moves at variable linearvelocity, means on the arm adjacent said circular path for picking asheet from the sheet feeder at one linear velocity and means forreleasing the sheet at another linear velocity.

6. Apparatus for transferring sheets from a source of sheets on a sheetfeeder to a printing press cylinder comprising, means forming a circularpath, an arm having a follower adapted to track in said path, armdriving means including a shaft eccentric to said path, said arm beingsecured to the shaft and being slidable radially of the shaft, and sheetgrasping means on the arm adjacent the circular path position to takesheets from said source and release them to the press.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein the press has a pluralityof sheet feeders, a sheet transferring means is provided for each sheetfeeder and means are provided for driving said transferring means intimed relation to the press cylinder.

8. Apparatus for transferring sheets from a sheet feeder to a printingpress cylinder, means for rotating said cylinder, said transferapparatus comprising, means forming a circular track, a shaft within thetrack arranged eccentric thereto, an arm mounted on the shaft, sheetgripping means on the arm adjacent the track and following said track,and means for driving said shaft in timed relation to rotation of saidprinting press cylinder, said sheet gripping means having a variablelinear velocity less than or equal to the linear velocity of saidprinting press cylinder.

9. Apparatus for transferring sheets from a sheet feeder to a printingpress cylinder comprising, means forming a circular track, a shaftwithin the track with its axis eccentric thereto, an arm slidablysecured to the shaft for movement laterally of the shaft, a roller onthe outer end of the arm adapted to roll in said track, drive means forturning said shaft and arm at constant angular velocity and sheetgripping means on the outer end of the arm adjacent said track.

10. Apparatus as specified in claim 9 wherein said shaft is bifurcatedand the arm has two parts with one part secured between thebifurcations, the other part being aligned with said one part and beingspaced therefrom by anti-friction bearings.

11. Apparatus as specified in claim 9 wherein a pair of parallel spacedplates are axially secured to the shaft, said arm is slidably receivablebetween the plates and anti-friction bearings are provided forsupporting said arm against the shaft.

12. In a sheet printing press having an impression cylinder and a sheetfeeder having a source of sheets, apparatus for transferring sheets fromthe feeder to said cylinder comprising, means forming a circular pathextending generally between the feeder and press, a rotary memberadapted to travel around said path at a constant angular velocity aboutan axis eccentric to the path, and sheet gripping means on the rotarymember for grasping and releasing sheets, said axis being spaced fromsaid sheet gripping means during a portion of each revolution of therotary member a distance equal to the radius of the impression cylinder.

13. In a sheet printing press having cylinder and a sheet feeder, meansfor pression cylinder at a rate substantially in excess of the feedrate, means for transferring sheets from the sheet feeder to theimpression cylinder including a rotary member adapted to travel around acircular path at a constant angular velocity about an axis eccentric tothe path, said angular velocity being equal to the angular velocity ofthe impression cylinder, and means on the rotary member adjacent thepath for picking a sheet from the sheet feeder in one position and forreleasing the sheet in another position when the distance between saidpicking means and said axis equal the radius of the impression cylinder.

14. The method which comprises providing a sheet transferring devicebetween a sheet feeder and the printing cylinders of a press, rotatingthe transferring device at a constant rate of revolution, operating thetransferring device to pick sheets from the sheet feeder at one linearvelocity and to accelerate them to a different linear velocity equal tothe surface velocity of the printing cylinan impression driving the1mtiers, and then feeding the sheets at the accelerated velocity ferdevices one complete rotation during pick up of one to the press. sheetto pick up of succeeding sheet.

15. The method which comprises providing a sheet 17. The method whichcomprises providing a rotary printing press with a plurality of sheetfeeders, providing press having a single impression cylinder with a pairof a sheet transferring device between each sheet feeder and sheetfeeders, driving the impression cylinder at a rate the printingcylinders of the press to deliver sheets from in excess of the speed atwhich sheets are drawn from the feeder to the press cylinders, rotatingthe transferring t e feeders, providing a sheet transfer device for eachevices at a constant rate of revolution, running the press sheet feederoperating the transferring devices at a concyllnders at a velocitysubstantially greater than the vestant angular velocity and in timedrelation to the rotalocity corresponding to the rate of feed of sheetson the 10 tion of the impression cylinder to transfer sheets from sheetfeeder, transferring and acceleratingthe sheets from the feeder to theimpression cylinder, and operating the the sheet feeder rate to thepress velocity while rotating transferring devices to pick sheets fromthe sheet feeder each of the transferring devices at constant angularand deliver them to the impression cylinder at an accelervelocity. atedrate while rotating said transferring devices during 16. The methodwhich comprises providing a rotary partial rotation during delivery ofone sheet to said 1mprinting press having an impression cylinder with aplupression cylinder.

rality of sheet feeders running the impression cylinder at a surfacespeed substantially in excess of the spged at References Cited in thefile of this patent which sheets are drawn from the feeders, provi ing a1 sheet transfer device for each sheet feeder, operating the UNITEDSTATES PATENTS transferring devices at a constant angular velocity andin 1,775,677 Huckins Sept. 16, 1930 timed relation to the rotation ofthe impression cylinder, ,366.56 Horton July 12, 1932 picking sheetsfrom the feeders with said transfer devices 1,93 ,051 Harrold Nov. 14,1933 and delivering said sheets sequentially to the impression 2,011,7 4Wormser Aug. 20, 1935 cylinder at a surface speed equal to the surfacespeed of 2,059,677 Belluche Nov. 3, 1936 said impression cylinder whilerotating each of said trans- 2,143,514 Hackbarth Jan. 10, 1939

